A Summer of Research: 2013 McDonell Fellows

While many of their peers enjoyed the summer break by the pool, eight Adelphi students were also doing what they enjoy—and getting paid for it. Thanks to Horace G. McDonell, Jr. ’52, ’02 (Hon.), a former Adelphi Trustee and a retired chairman and CEO of PerkinElmer Inc., these undergraduate science majors spent 10 weeks conducting full-time research. With a $4,000 research stipend and $1,000 for equipment and supplies, the latest class of McDonell Felllows also had the opportunity to work side-by-side with faculty mentors in the lab and in the field.

Here is a list of the 2013 McDonell Fellows, their faculty mentors and their research projects:

Ninkunj Argawal, physics major; Gottipaty Rao, Ph.D.; phase shift studies in cavity ring down spectroscopy

Luke Cotellessa, chemistry major; Brian Stockman, Ph.D.; crowding effects on the structure and function of flavodoxin

Jami DeGrote, chemistry major; Melissa VanAlstine-Parris, Ph.D.; synthesizing derivatives of 4-trifluoromethylcoumarins

John Dellatto, physics major; Matthew Wright, Ph.D.; injection-locking a diode laser

Frances Fan, biology major; Eugenia VIlla-Cuesta, Ph.D.; succinate dehydrogenase mutants in drosphila melanogaster and protection from mutant pathology via rapamycin treatment

Natalia Gmuca, biology major; Heather Liwanag, Ph.D.; morphology of harp seal fur with ontogeny

Sara Kulins, biology major; Aaren Freeman, Ph.D.; range expansion of the rhizocephalan loxothylacus panopaei in the Long Island Sound and surrounding extuaries

Michael Trietsch, physics major; Gottipaty Rao, Ph.D.; incoherent broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy for trace measurements of NO2 with an LED source